Knowra Cloud feedback Cloud feedback Cloud feedback is the change in Earth’s clouds caused by climate change and the resulting effect of those clouds on climate. It can amplify or dampen the initial warming.
Cloud radiative effect : The difference between Earth’s radiation budget with clouds and the hypothetical budget without them. It describes how cloud changes alter reflected sunlight and trapped infrared heat.
Climate feedback : A process that changes the climate system in response to an initial climate change, amplifying or reducing it. Cloud feedback is one component of the broader climate feedback system.
Equilibrium climate sensitivity : The long-term global warming expected after atmospheric carbon dioxide doubles, once the climate system equilibrates. Cloud feedback is a leading source of uncertainty in its estimated value.
Aerosol-cloud interaction : The ways atmospheric particles influence cloud formation, properties, and precipitation. It concerns aerosol-driven cloud changes, distinct from cloud changes caused by climate warming.
Low-cloud feedback : The climate response caused by changes in low-level cloud properties or coverage. Uncertain changes in subtropical low clouds strongly affect reflected sunlight.
Shortwave cloud feedback : The climate response caused by changes in clouds’ reflection of incoming solar radiation. Changes in cloud brightness or coverage shift how much sunlight escapes to space.
Earth's energy budget : The balance between energy Earth receives from the Sun and energy it returns to space. Cloud feedback changes the incoming and outgoing radiation terms in this balance.
Climate models : Numerical representations of the climate system used to study past, present, and future climate. Models represent cloud processes differently, producing a wide range of feedback estimates.
Cloud adjustment : A rapid cloud response to a radiative forcing, occurring before substantial global surface warming. It is separated from cloud feedback, which follows temperature change.
Marine stratocumulus : Extensive, low-lying sheets of cloud that commonly form over cool subtropical oceans. Their sensitivity to warming and drying is central to estimates of cloud feedback.
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